This/That

We use "THAT" for remoteness (departare).

In Romanian, "THAT" means ACELA/ACEEA.

E.g.: That is my father. (Acela este tatal meu.)

That is my mother. (Aceea este mama mea.)

We use this/that/these/those to explain what we are talking about. We sometimes use them with nouns and we sometimes use them on their own.

We use this (singular) and these (plural) to talk about things close to us, and that (singular) and those (plural) to talk about things at some distance away from us.

What about this shirt for Oliver?

No, hold on, what about that one over there?

So THIS is the idea of HERE and THAT is the idea of THERE.